If it doesn't taste good, why eat it?

molasses

Never in my life, until just over a year ago, had I known so many people with food allergies. Now I have adopted an entire family full 🙂 (and I love them all) and have several friends with them as well. There are allergies to spices, some to raw fruits and veggies, to gluten, to tree nuts, to peanuts, to dairy, and the list goes on. Then there are the folks who make life choices to exclude certain foods- people who eat paleo, vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free, etc. All of this adds up to challenge the “foodie” at each party. You want to bring a dish that looks good, tastes great, and that everyone will be able to partake in. It can be a little crazy, but I’m up for the challenge.

This particular recipe is an adaptation of the Rocky cookie which tastes a bit more tropical and uses no peanut butter. It’s for Sheila and Michael as she loves her healthy foods and he doesn’t breathe so well when peanut products are near him 😉

Ingredients:

2 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup steel cut oats

1 ½ cups whole wheat flour (or oat flour)

¾ teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon cinnamon

dash of nutmeg

Sprinkle of sea salt

Handful of bittersweet chocolate chunks

Handful of raisins

Handful of chopped dates

Handful of cashews

Handful of shredded coconut

Handful of dried pineapple

Handful of wheat germ

Handful of flax seed meal

Handful of sunflower seeds

1 egg

1/2 cup real maple syrup

1/4 cup molasses

¾ cup plain, unsweetened applesauce

1/3 cup coconut oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

a well-ripened banana

1 large scoop of Tahini

Preheat the oven to 375

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix

Scoop the batter by the tablespoon onto a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper (cookies will not spread)

Bake for 15-25 minutes (depending on your oven). You want a finished cookie that is golden brown around the edges and a bit on top

I have a dear friend named Roxanne. Those who know her well call her Rocky. Rocky is a giving and loving person, always there to listen to a friend, offer advice, lend her opinion. Rocky also happens to be famous for her cookies, and I mean that. She’s been asked to make them for parties at a salon, for people’s backyard shindigs, she’s made them for co-workers. She willingly shares her recipe and I’ve used it over and over. In fact I have a family member who swears that Rocky cookies helped her survive through a rough patch of menopause. My weight-lifting friend asks me to make them as her cheat after competitions. I’ve made them for constipated children who don’t get enough fiber in their diet, and for adults after surgery. I make them for myself as a snack. Unlike conventional cookies, they’re packed with healthy fats and fruits, nuts, and energy-supplying seeds. No butter, no brown sugar, no white sugar- you get my drift.

This cookie is hearty. It can be made with every ingredient in the list, or only a few of them. You can play with combinations for flavor such as pumpkin and walnut, or chocolate and cherries, or sunflower and raisin. Personally, I love to have a little bit of dark chocolate, lots of different fruits (prune, fig, raisin, cranberry), some wheat berries, a mixture of flours (barley and whole wheat)- a little bit of everything.

The recipe may confuse some as it calls for a handful of this and that ingredient. It means that, literally. The dough should not be terribly stiff when complete, but if it’s too runny just add a bit more flour to the mix.

2 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup steel cut oats

1 ½ cups whole wheat flour (or oat or barley flour)

¾ teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon cinnamon (can also add a dash of cloves and/or nutmeg)

Sprinkle of sea salt

Handful of bittersweet chocolate chunks

Handful of raisins

Handful of dried cranberries

Handful of walnuts

Handful of wheat germ

Handful of flax seed meal

Handful of seeds if you like them (sunflower, pepitas, flax, sesame, etc.)

My favorite cookie of all time is the molasses cookie. It’s rich in spice: cinnamon, ginger, clove. It’s chewy and crackled on top, and has crunchy crystals of turbinado sugar sprinkled over it. My Dad has always favored this cookie as well. This past weekend my father, who has always lived within half an hour’s drive from me, packed all of his belongings into a U-Haul truck and left to begin a new chapter of his life in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Since he’d be on the road for several hours each day spanned over a three-day trip, I decided that a few dozen molasses cookies were in order.

Let cookies cool on the sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to complete

cooling cookies

This recipe comes to me from a family member (cousin Marie) three generations older than me and I’m not sure of its origin when she found it. All I know is that my grandmother used to make them, as did my mother, and now I do as well.